Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q5

Q.5. Can you live up to all this perfectly?

Aš No. I have a natural tendency to hate God and my neighbor.

Monday

Perfection is a tricky thing.  Some of us struggle with the need to be perfect more than others, but none of us can ever perfectly love God and our neighbor.  Our sin always seems to get in the way – one time it may be our pride.  Another time it is our selfishness.  Either way, sin always rears its head and keeps us from living up to God’s law. God is the only one who is perfect.  Read 2 Samuel 22:31-34.  God is perfect and the one who alone can make us perfect.  David understood this, which is why he said; “It is God who makes my way perfect.” 

Tuesday

Jesus makes an interesting statement in the Sermon on the Mount.  Read Matthew 5:48.  To understand this statement we must understand that Jesus has just instructed humanity to not lust or hate.  He has told us our word must be fully trustworthy, and we must turn the other cheek, even giving to anyone who asks.  But to top it off, we must love even our enemies.  Then he says, “Be perfect, as God is perfect.”  Sadly, each of us must weigh these commands and conclude that we are incapable of living up to them.  If this is perfect love, we can’t do it.  We need a savior.

Wednesday

Just as Jesus’ words yesterday exposed our sinful tendencies, so also will his words today.  Read Matthew 19:16-22.  In this passage Jesus equates goodness and perfection.  Good is caring for the poor.  Good is gaining treasure in heaven.  Good is living up to the standards of God as revealed in the Law.  But then in a quick reversal, goodness is also equated with being perfect, and perfection comes by abandoning our security in order to care for someone else’s security.  It is giving everything away so that another might live.  Like the young man who leaves sad, we too must leave sad at this standard of perfection. Again, if this is love of God and neighbor, then we do not truly love.  We can never be perfect.  God alone can make our ways perfect.

Thursday

Read James 3:2.  What does James consider the standard of perfection?  Consider all the times you have spoken carelessly: a lie, hurtful words directed at another, boasting in personal achievements, arrogance, gossip.  These are the faults that plague ever Christian.  If our tongue is a gauge of our perfection as James implies, then we are all in need of a savior.  For yet again we have transgressed God’s Law.  Read 1 John 1:8-10.

Friday

Jesus alone has fulfilled the Law of love.  He loved his enemies.  He sacrificed himself so that we might come to know true security in the arms of a loving Father.  He gave his life for the world.  Jesus is the lamb without blemish.  Be encouraged.  Jesus lived up to all the law demands perfectly; otherwise he would be sinful and unable to redeem us.  But he has redeemed us.  Read Galatians 3:13.

Saturday

Do we have any hope of perfection or is it beyond our grasp.  Paul seemed to think that every Christ has the hope of perfection in their future.  Read Philippians 3:12-14.  Paul understood that perfection wasn’t part of this world for any believer, but that it was their ultimate destiny in the world to come.  Each of us will one day stand in heaven with a completely unhindered love for God and our neighbor.  All selfishness, all pride, and all sin will be done away with in the heavenly Kingdom where Christ rules.  Praise the Lord.